The Dominican University men's soccer team topped the visiting MSOE Raiders, 1-0 at West Campus Field on Saturday afternoon behind
Zack Venzon's (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) strike in the 72
nd minute.
Dominican's
Gabriel Gongora (Naperville, Ill.) made sure Venzon's goal stood up, facing eight shots and making three saves to post his fifth shutout of the season and lower his goals against average to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference-leading 0.50.
Gongora came up huge for the Stars, especially during a two and a half minute stretch in the second half that saw the junior goalkeeper stop a PK by MSOE's two-time NACC
Offensive Player of the Year, Logan Andryk, and later stoned Braden Andryk, the current conference-leader in goals, on a point-blank shot in the 56
th minute. Both saves kept the game scoreless, setting up the opportunity for the second game-winner for Venzon in the last three matches.
"You can't deny they are amazing players on their team. Logan is All-American...we know how good he is," commented Gongora when asked about his save on the Raiders' PK. "As a goalie you try and get as big as possible and guess the right way. Luck is on my side."
As impressive as Gongora was, his counterpart, MSOE's Sean Stelter, faced ten shots, making six saves including stopping Dominican's Iven Hernandez who had looks at the goal in the 27
th minute and 61
st minute to keep the MSOE side in the match.
It wasn't until the 72
nd minute that Dominican was finally able to break through when
Frankie Saiz (Naperville, Ill.) served a ball into the Raiders' 18-yard box. A Raider defender won the first ball but his clearance was settled by Venzon 20-yards out before the junior captain volleyed a shot up and over Stelter that snuck in under the crossbar.
Dominican had a couple of chances in the minutes that followed, including a shot by
Jose Gomez (Elgin, Ill.) in the 73
rd minute that Stelter covered in traffic. Then in the 83
rd minute,
Adam Yaghmour (Norridge, Ill.) tried to add an insurance marker but Stelter raced off his line to cut down the sophomore's angle and eliminate a breakaway opportunity for the Stars.
"The guys really put it all together today and earned this win," said Dominican's
Erick Baumann, when asked about his team's performance. "We took our training and the things we have worked on and discussed and implemented them on the game field. I was pleased with the committment to our purpose and desire to win."
With the win, Dominican improves to 8-2-2 overall and sits alone atop the NACC at 5-0-1. In six conference contests, Dominican has yet to surrender a goal, posting six consecutive shutouts and has not surrendered a goal in 584 minutes of play, spanning the last six-plus matches.
The Stars will hit the road on Wednesday, traveling to Aurora University for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff against the Spartans at Vago Field.
